Barry Lash's Duntov-Winning’69

This ’69 was born with a silver dipstick in its engine. Originally purchased by a wealthy publisher for his wife, it was turned over to a collector, who stored it in climate-controlled comfort and registered only 805 miles on its clock over a 20-year period. Pampered? What do you think? Today, under the care of its current owner, Barry Lash of Sanford, Florida, the Corvette’s odometer reads a mere 8,500 miles.

The original paint is Riverside Gold, a one-year-color wonder. There are no records of exactly how many of this color were produced, but you sure don’t see too many. Although the car is a convertible, it has only the hardtop. For reasons of her own, the original owner didn’t want the soft top. The rear-window defogger is relatively rare, an option on roughly 10 percent of ’69s.

In addition to the original paint, this unrestored gem retains all the original glass, headlamps, tires (including spare), jack, all interior components—even the original keys! Barry Lash lays ownership to the original owner’s items as well—owner’s manual, Protect-O-Plate, radio card, white extra key card, headlamp washer card, etc. Barry’s not territorial about the ownership, perhaps because he’s owned more than 20 of them over the last 16 years. He freely counts his wife, Lori, and six-year-old son, Jordan, as co-owners. This is the only Corvette he’s had with the special credentials this one claims. Barry owns a dealership, so he’s done a lot of work on it at his own place. Otherwise, he claims the only technician he’ll allow to touch this car is Dewey Hendricks, owner of Dewey’s Just Corvettes in nearby Longwood, Florida.

All this originality has to count for some awards, right? You bet. Since June 1997, this beauty has collected Survivor, Gold, and Benchmark status from Bloomington Gold and Top Flight, Performance Verification, and Bow Tie—Four Stars (working on a fifth) from NCRS.

Surely it will be a family affair when the car goes to the 2000 NCRS National Convention in Bowling Green (July 23-27) in search of the Duntov. We didn’t think it was much of a stretch to include this special Corvette in our “Best of the Best” issue. You can say you saw this Duntov-winning ’69 here first.